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He bit my throat, his entire hand cupping me, his hardness rocking against my thigh. “Never again,” he panted. “Never again will I lose you.” His fingers withdrew then plunged back in, thrusting in time to our writhing desperation.
I squirmed beneath him, hungry.
Wanting more.
Needing all.
I lost myself.
I found myself in him.
My mind remained stubbornly locked to everything else but this. This I knew. This I remembered.
His mouth sought mine again as his wrist rocked between my legs.
I reached for his wolf pelt.
My fingers scrambled at his furs, needing to feel him as he felt me.
A needy, lusty growl vibrated in his chest.
His fingers withdrew, his touch wet as he helped me, yanking at his coverings.
His furs loosened.
Our teeth clacked as he kissed me violently.
My fingers burned as I touched hardened flesh—
A blur of golden spots.
A lash of two tails.
A bite of fanged teeth—
Darro yelped with pain.
His shadows disintegrated around us, snuffed out and delivering us back into dusk. My golden light extinguished as my eyes fell on a nightmare of prowling, snarling wolves, their teeth bared, and ground churned with their paws.
Their track of rage ringed us, almost as if they’d tried to attack us but were held at bay by Darro’s shadows.
A blur of killing swiftness soared through the gloom.
Another flash of spots.
Darro launched off me, tucking his pelt back around his hips.
I scrambled into sitting just as Syn pounced on Darro with a wicked snap of her teeth.
He ducked but wasn’t fast enough.
The lynx leapt onto his back, her claws digging into his flesh, her fangs coming whisker-close to his nape.
With a roar, he flexed, and in a blast of absolute darkness, Syn was knocked sideways as if she was nothing. She twisted in the sky as a whipping shadow punched her with swift accuracy, whipping back to coil around Darro as he stood panting with a strained chest, balled fists, and silver-ringed eyes.
All around him, the air shimmered with darkness.
Syn landed on all fours, her two tails slicing with rage, her yellow eyes luminous with hate. Crouching low, she stalked him. Her haunches gathered power to leap again. The wolves joined in her attack, their horns shredding the dusk, ready to hurt their packmate just because he’d kissed me.
“Stop!” I leapt to my feet.
Syn paused for a single heartbeat, her gaze catching mine. But then she looked back at the stranger and leapt. The wolves barked at the lynx but leapt with her, all three predators soaring toward Darro.
I opened my lips to scream, to run, to help, but it was too late.
Spotted fur and sleek pelts flew through the sky, their teeth glinting.
Darro didn’t move.
At least, not physically.
But as suddenly as the three beasts pounced, they were knocked aside and pinned to the earth with thick, pulsing shadows. Syn howled and snarled, her back legs scrambling at the ground while her shoulders and neck were pressed tight to the churned grass.
The wolves were released, their own shadowy binds falling away as if Darro didn’t feel right trapping them. They sprang to their feet, backing away from their packmate instead of attacking again.
With a slight nod, Darro accepted the wolves’ surrender and focused on the lynx who snapped and grunted with fury. “Enough,” he murmured. “I didn’t hurt her. Enough.”
Syn only fought harder.
It hurt to see her pinned down and broke my heart that she attacked him because of me. She only believed she was doing the right thing.
Moving toward her, I opened my heart, just as I had when I’d found Natim. Her anger stung me as I welcomed her presence to blend with mine. “Syn—”
“Stay back, Runa. You don’t know if she’ll hurt you.” Darro’s voice was tempered with the same darkness he wielded.
I shook my head, crossing the final distance toward the imprisoned lynx. “She won’t.” My heart warmed with every step. Whatever force existed in my veins that was sensitive to creatures and their spirits sparked and prickled. My entire body hummed with awareness, my bones brightening, my blood burning. “Please, Darro. Let her go.”
He didn’t argue or refuse.
With a heated look and a worshipping bow of his head, he obeyed.
The final ribbon of blackness holding Syn’s shoulders down evaporated, leaving the deepening dusk free from summoned fog.
Syn’s emotions buffeted me.
Worry, panic, rage...regret.
She’d come to defend me, not to kill.
Natim’s tiny bleat sounded behind me as he galloped out of the trees, racing to my side. His frantic thoughts buffeted me with fear, relief, and love. I gave him a smile just as Syn sprang to all four feet, angrily shaking off her entrapment and licking her lips.
Her gaze fell on the vulnerable fawn.
But I wasn’t afraid.
She wouldn’t hurt Natim because we were linked.
Linked in ways that couldn’t be explained or known.
Dropping to my knees, I opened my arms for Natim to scramble into them and silently bid Syn to join us.
